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Here I place my book report on Hideous Kinky as I handed it in, in my English class. I got an 8 out of 10. Seeing this was my first bookreport I ever wrote for school, this pleased my very much. ......................... Book Report written by: Sheyna R M Ubjaan H i d e o u s K i n k y Hideous Kinky is written by Esther Freud. Esther was born in 1963 in London. Hideous Kinky was first published in 1992. Type of book Hideous Kinky is a novel. And can also be seen as a travel report. Most important character in the story The narrator, the five year old girl, who tells the story about the travel of her Mum and her two year older sister in and through Morocco. The five-year old girl, could be described as a dreamer, a day dreamer. Who sees everything in kind of an unrealistic way. But I would not like to describe her like a dreamer, because she is young, five, and most five year olds dream, whether it is about candy or a new Dad, they dream about mostly everything. And that is wonderfully described in the book. The young girl, is the narrator, of the book, and you see everything through her eyes, you experience Morocco through a five year old girl?s eyes, how lovely. You, yourself, kind of get thrown back to your own childhood, because of the way you keep experiencing everything like a five-year old would. The five-year old, who has no name, is also a smart and clever girl. She constantly feels like the youngest, because she is. So this leads to asking questions to her Mum and sister all the time. She wants to know everything, like her Mum, about the Moroccan culture. And because of her Dad being distant, because he did not come along to Morocco, she also keeps searching for a Dad figure. Other important characters (and a short description) Bea, the older sister, ? Is som eone who, the five-year old girl, her younger sister, looks up to. Bea always wins everything and is always faster with everything they play or do. Bea, is very close with her younger sister. They have a really close relationship. When they are apart for some days, her younger sister always worries a lot about Bea, if she is safe or/and if she is also missing her like she does. And even when it is for some hours the younger sister cannot get her mind of Bea. Bea and her younger sister also have many differences. Bea is more down to earth than her younger sister or her mother. Bea, is someone who keeps thinking and sometimes also says that she wants a ?normal? life, like normal people. Bea wants that really bad. She longs for a normal life. She likes to have normal things around her and do as much as normal things as she can. One of those normal things for Bea is going to school and learn Arabic. That makes Bea more comfortable in Morocco, Bea, is someone who in some way also longs for home, London, where she comes from, where she went to school and had her friends, but she cannot go there, because it is not in her hands, so she creates some kind of her own home in Marrakech, Morocco, where she goes to school and gets to know new people of her own age. So, like a normal child, she has her normal going to school days, like she wished for. But for Bea it is not that easy to have the normal life that she wants. She has kind of a hippie mother, who drags her along to every single place she goes. And at times it even came over as if Bea thought she had to play some kind of a mother because she, at times, thinks her mother is not all that good at being a mother for her or her younger sister. Which also shows the strength that Bea has, for at times taking over that role, to keep an eye over her younger sister at all time, when possible. The mother, called Mum, who is also nameless, as the youngest sister, is the one, who takes her two children al ong on her trip to Morocco. She travels all the way to Marrakech. To start her adventure. It is Mum?s adventure, she wants to explore new things and learn about the Moroccan culture. She is very interested in their culture and gets so into it that at some point she even wants to be a Sufi. She learns about the religion, as much as she can and begins to pray everyday and explores the Islam for as far as she can. But in some way Mum, is also a feminist, because she does this alone, the trip, to Morocco, with her two children along. She, as an English white woman, takes many risks in Morocco. There are many minor characters in this story. A lot. At times it made it pretty difficult, for me, to remember who was who in the story. Like, all the beggars, shepherds and innkeepers. There are so many coming along but all play some part in the story. A special part, especially for the five- year old, she almost sees in every person some kind of a friend, whether it is a beggar or a very rich man. Or a real idiot, with one tooth, who she calls the fool. She sees them as her friends. When I think of all these minor characters, there is one, who I think deserves a little more attention in this book report. This is, the mother?s boyfriend, Bilal. Who, she met in Marrakech. Bilal, is someone who keeps coming back during the story. Even, when they are not with Bilal. The five-year old girl, keeps talking and thinking about Bilal. She considers Bilal as her Dad. Someone she has gotten really close with. At the end of the book, the five-year old, even says: "Bilal was my Dad. No one denied it when I said so." This almost brought tears in my eyes. Because than I noticed how much she longed for a Dad and how much she had gotten attached to Bilal, when you know he is not coming along to London. Narrator. See above. (Most important person) Where the story takes place The story takes place in Moroc co, this is very important to the story because the whole story is built up on this culture. The year(s), the story takes place The story takes place in the mid ?60s or beginning of the ?70s. This is also very important to the story. Because Mum, is kind of hippie like, I would not say she is a hippie, but she does travel to the other side of the world with her two children and does whatever she likes and wants. And this could be some kind of a hippie thing to do, but on the other hand, with the whole feminine feminist side, she has, she deals with the things that are important and needed. She does have girl power, if I may say so. And this is more a thing for the beginning of the ?70s, that she has already over crossed the whole hippie period. The story covers about two years, I read this in a review, in an English magazine, about this book. But how they come up with two years, is a riddle to me, because I could not find that out. I would say one year, because the young girl only talked about one Christmas that had passed and one birthday she had had. Turning point The turning point in story is that Mum, begins to get more and more interested in the Islam and wants to be a Sufi. This is a turning point in the story because from then on the two children begin to rebel against her. The oldest wants or even insists on going to school and the youngest drifts more into her dream world. This also leads to some kind of a shame towards their Mum, at times they feel embarrassed because of her behavior. For example when they walk home and Mum has forgotten to pray, Mum, gets her mat and kneels down in the middle of the street and begins her prayers, the two children do not know where to look and hide behind some bushes. I did not expect this turning point, Mum is very open to everything and to the Moroccan culture but I did not expect her to get so interested in it that she really decided to become a Sufi. This did not come ou t of the blue but it was not something I expected her to do. Theme The main theme of the book is the Moroccan culture. The author wants to share, with us, a taste of Morocco, and she does this very well, actually, she does this almost perfectly, if you ask me. I have never been in Morocco, but every time I opened this book, it felt like I was there, she dragged me along with her. You could almost feel the beggars touching you and asking you for money. And every time she brought you into the center of Marrakech you could almost smell the heath and taste the food, she describes this so narrowly. It is almost magical. Title explanation Hideous and Kinky were Bea and her younger sister's two favorite words. These became their two favorite words because these were the only two words they ever heard Marette, who was a friend of their mother?s, speak. Which was quite something, because, Marette had never said a word. So, these two words became special to them and they even made a game out of it. Whenever or wherever they were, they could play this game, Hideous Kinky, Bea would start whisper hideous in her younger sisters ear and her sister would ran away and shout Kinky. And so they went on and also added some other words to the game, which they picked up somewhere and had a great sound or sounded strange in their ears. One enjoyable incident There are so many incidents or parts that I liked so much about this book. I mean, there were so many which I could laugh out loud with, which I enjoyed a lot. But one, I remember now, which I did not laugh out loud with but which I thought was very clever or smart from Mum. When she arrives at a Youth Hostel with her youngest daughter, after a long bus trip and is exhausted, the only thing she wants to do when she arrives is sleep. When they enter the Youth Hostel and the man behind the counter asks her if she had ever before been a member of the Youth Hostels Asso ciation. You feel she can hit him, or something, because she is so tired after that long day and then he asks that stupid question, which you know she does not have the right answer on. And there is a big chance he may refuse them a room because of it. But then she explains in a very polite and oh so calm way that she is a foreigner in his country and the book of the Islam tells her that it is the duty of every servant of Allah to give hospitality to strangers. And surely it is more important to abide by the laws of the Islam than by those of a Youth Hostel. Oh, what wonderful. Hah! The man, just stood there and did not say a single word for seconds and then his face changed and he agreed with her and showed them their room. I thought that was so cool of her. She showed him, that she, a foreigner, an English white woman, knew what the Islam was about and knew the words of Allah. And as he was stunned he respected her right there and then. I loved that. Did I enjoy reading this book? Was it difficult? Would I recommend it to a friend? I enjoyed reading this book a lot. Not everything. But most of it, I did. If it were me writing it, I would have changed some things, like, the beggars, shepherds, ? I would not have mentioned so many of them. It was not difficult but confusing, for me. But further, I had no complaints at all. I liked it a lot. It was easy to read and it made me long to a vacation, especially to Morocco. The way she describes it, made me want to go there right away. And if anyone would ask me what I read for English class this year, I would recommend this book. Because it is easy to read and I loved it. And well, if I loved it, I bet one of my friends will love it too, maybe just as much as I did. Anything else I would like to say, ? Well, Hideous Kinky was one my favorite movies, for a very long time. I loved everything about it. The first time I rented it, a long time ago, it was beca use I saw Kate Winslet on the cover and I totally loved her as an actress but after seeing that movie, it was quite a surprise, to me, that Kate was not my main thing I liked about it, it was the story. Not Kate. No, the story was the thing, which fascinated me into liking it so much. And after seeing that movie way too many times, so many times, I even lost count. I actually did not really want to read the book. Because I know out of experience that the book is usually so much different from the movie, usually way better and I did not want to ruin the movie by reading the book. Finding out what a mistake it was to make a movie out of such a lovely book. Sometimes it just feels like they ripped the whole book apart, into tiny little pieces and could not find a way to glue it back together anymore but got along with it anyway. But this time, there was no such thing, the book was almost exactly like the movie itself. Of course some characters were left out but that was understandable and done very well, because it also needed to stay practical and not too mixed up, so they had a very good reason for leaving out some people. So, my conclusion to the movie is that it was done very well, and I would not have done it any other way. THE END...Thanks U!

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Two little girls are taken by their mother to Morocco on a 1960s pilgrimage of self-discovery. For Mum it is not just an escape from the grinding conventions of English life but a quest for personal fulfilment; her children, however, seek something more solid and stable amidst the shifting desert sands. Just open the book and begin, and instantly you will be first of all charmed, then intrigued and finally moved by this fascinating story.